It's official: 'Hit the Wall' goes off-Broadway

The long-expected, official annnouncement has arrived: "Hit the Wall," a new drama about the Stonewall riots penned by the young Chicago playwright Ike Holter, is headed to the Barrow Street Theatre in New York. Barrow Street has produced many Chicago hits, including David Cromer's version of Thronton Wilder's "Our Town."

The theater also is little more than a stone's throw from the Stonewall Inn itself. Rania Salem Manganaro and Arturo Soria are expected to reprise the roles they first played in the Steppenwolf Garage Theatre, and the longtime Chicago actor Sean Allan Krill is part of the cast. Otherwise, the company of director Eric Hoff's production is changed from the one that played Chicago, making this a new production rather than a transfer. The design team and the soundtrack to the show is entirely different. The lead role is now played by Nathan Lee Graham.

"Hit the Wall' was first produced in Chicago by The Inconvenience, although the New York show will be produced, as is typical at Barrow Street, by Scott Morfee, Jean Doumanian and Tom Wirtshafter. Performances begin at the Barrow Street, Feb. 19. Opening night is March 10.

NEW YORK - Producers from the Barrow Street Theatre in New York were in Chicago for the closing days of playwright Ike Holter's “Hit the Wall,” the hit production about the Stonewall riots staged in the Steppenwolf Garage by the emerging Chicago group known as The Inconvenience.

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